418 Notes i principally Geological, [No. 162. 



been uprooted, borne down, and thrown in confusion with other ve- 

 getable debris on the rocks we had to cross. 



Crawling on hands and knees — an operation rendered eligible by the 

 then slimy surface of the rock and the painful effects of a score of tum- 

 bles — we contrived to reach the shelf of rock which completely projects 

 over the margin of the chasm, and forms an admirable point of view. 

 We lay down flat on the surface of this shelf, which slopes gently from 

 the chasm, and drew ourselves up to its edge over which, as I stretch- 

 ed my head, a sight burst on the view, which I shall never forget, and 

 can never hope to describe. I have since looked down the fuming 

 and sulphurous craters of Etna and Vesuvius, but have never experi- 

 enced the sensations which overwhelmed me in the first downward 

 gaze into this (Hibernice,) volcano of waters: — for so it looks. 



All thoughts of the picturesque, all pre-formed resolutions of sub- 

 duing the exaggerated impressions likely to be produced on the ima- 

 gination by such a scene, and reducing them by the sober checks of 

 calculation of height, depth, velocity, bulk, &c — at once vanished, and 

 left the mind partaking in the tumultuous confusion and agitation 

 going on. But it is the chaotic scene beneath that rivets with basi- 

 lisk fascination the gaze of the spectator, and produces in some minds 

 the dangerous impulse or desire of self- precipitation. 



This impulse originates possibly in a sympathy existing between 

 the human Mind and what is termed, perhaps inaccurately, " Inani- 

 mate Nature," which in its calm and beauteous state exercises so great 

 a tranquilizing effect on certain minds. 



Passive amid this activity, the spectator looks downwards into an 

 apparently fathomless gulf of plunging waters, spray, uproar, and 

 mist ; first perhaps with a feeling of fear and giddiness, which rapidly 

 vanishes, and the mind becomes not only reconciled to the incessancy 

 and unvarying nature of these phenomena, but fascinated more or 

 less by them. It was with great reluctance, and with an intense 

 feeling of depression, that I withdrew my head drenched in spray 

 from the brink of the precipice, to examine in detail other parts of the 

 Falls. One might almost gaze for ever on this abyss in which a mighty 

 mass of water appears eternally burying itself in a mist-shrouded 

 grave. The clouds of spray which continually ascend heavenwards in 

 slow and majestic wreaths, appear to typify the shadowy ghosts of the 



